Religious Education in the African American Tradition

H. Hill Kenneth

Description

This book is a comprehensive survey of African American Christian Religious Education (AACRE). It addresses historical, theological, and ministerial issues. Kenneth H. Hill defines concepts and explores history, considers the diverse voices that are addressing AACRE, and focuses on educational theory and practice. Religious Education in the African American Tradition considers a diversity of voices, including those of evangelical, pentecostal, liberation, and womanist African American theologians.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Chalice Press
• Date de parution: 09 novembre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780827232853
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

R ELIGIOUS E DUCATIONINTHE AFRICAN AMERICAN TRADITION

R ELIGIOUS E DUCATIONINTHE AFRICAN AMERICAN TRADITION

A C OMPREHENSIVE I NTRODUCTION

KENNETH H. HILL

© Copyright 2007 by Kenneth H. Hill

All rights reserved. For permission to reuse content, please contact Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 7508400, www.copyright.com.

Biblical quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from theNew Revised Standard Version Bible,copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cover art:The Coming of the Holy Spirit,Soichi Watanabe, Japan, from ACAA  web site: http://www.asianchristianart.org Cover and interior design: Elizabeth Wright

Visit Chalice Press on the World Wide Web at www.chalicepress.com

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Library of Congress Cataloging–in–Publication Data Hill, Kenneth H.  Religious education in the African American church : a comprehensive introduction / Kenneth H. Hill.  p. cm.  Includes bibliographical references.  ISBN13: 9780827208209 1. African American theological seminaries. 2. African American clergy—Training of. 3. Theology—Study and teaching. 4. African American churches. 5. Christian education. 6. African Americans—Education. I. Title.

 BV4080.H55 2007  268’.08996073—dc22

Printed in the United States of America

2006033389

Contents

Acknowledgments PrefaceJ. Deotis Roberts ForewordMary Elizabeth Moore Introduction

PART ONE  1. Understanding the Discipline  2. Reconnecting with Our History  3. Reading, Interpreting, and Teaching the Bible in the African American Church

PART TWO  4. Hearing and Understanding Contemporary African American Theological Voices  5. Understanding the Relationship between Theology and the Dynamics of Educating African American Christians  6. Black Theologies in Dialogue

PART THREE  7. Educating in the African American Church  8. Teaching Roles of African American Clergy  9. Reshaping the Future of African American Christian Religious Education

Notes Bibliography

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5 12 27

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120 136 151

161 171

Acknowledgments

Many persons and institutions helped in the development ofReligious Education in the African American Tradition: A Comprehensive Introduction. I am grateful to the Louisville Institute for the research grant to pursue this projectand Emory University Candler School of Theology/Pitts Theo logical Library for allowing me to serve as a visiting fellow to conduct research and write. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Mary Elizabeth Moore, for your patience, insightful guidance, and for encouraging me to reflect more deeply and think more critically upon the educational legacy of my heritage. Thank you J. Deotis Roberts and Charles Foster for challenging me to think theologically about African American Christian religious education. Thank you Roberta, my wife, who journeyed with me throughout and supported me during the writing of this project. Thank you Kamasi, my son, for your insightful comments. Your mind and intellect have been a special gift. Gratitude is extended to my administrative assistant, Loretta Matthews, for your editorial work. Appreciation goes to the students at Payne Theological Seminary in Xenia, Ohio, the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Detroit, Michigan, who learned with and taught me as we explored issues of Christian education in African American congregations. Thank you colaborers and educators for your friendship, fellowship, and for working with me throughout my journey in ministry. The experiences have been rich and rewarding.

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Preface

Dr. Kenneth H. Hill has spent several years as the main religious educator of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. It is a privilege to know Dr. Hill and to have served with him in ecumenical endeavors. As a Baptist minister and theologian, I served with Hill on the Lenten Booklet Committee of the Consultation on Church Union. During this period of dialogue with him, I came to appreciate his spirit of outreach as well as his scholarship. Hill has witnessed as a Christian religious educator during a unique period of the history of the African American Church Tradition. During the period of Black consciousness and Black power he made a powerful witness for social justice. This was a period of “Black ecumenism” represented by the National Committee of Black Christians. This period gave birth to Black church studies and Black theology as well as many action and social service agencies. The A.M.E. Church was an important partner with those who sought liberation from oppression due to racism in American society. The A.M.E. Church has a history of prophetic witness that began more than two hundred years ago when Richard Allen walked out of the White Methodist church in Philadelphia. In fact, the A.M.E. Church became a lightening rod for the African American Church Tradition both in the search for roots and the quest for social justice. Nevertheless, this denomination has been a source for comfort and healing for a longsuffering people. The period of African American history, just described, followed upon the heels of the civil rights movement. This period (1954–68) was represented by the Brown legal decision for the desegregation of education and the nonviolent protest efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. More recently, the Afrocentric Cultural Movement has emerged to complement the work done during earlier periods of the African American quest for social justice. This latter movement is more cultural than political or theological, but it has had a significant impact on African American family, community, and church life. The ministry of Kenneth Hill reflects significant involvement in all these movements that have surfaced over several decades. This fortyplus years of African American history with its search for heritage and social relevance is reflected in the educative thought and life of Kenneth Hill. I am impressed with the outline of his project, the range of his interest, and the substance of his thought development. His educative work provides this book with a note of authority. His involvement in thought and action makes it so.

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viiiReligious Education in the African American Tradition

The book is much needed. It brings the educational ministry of African American churches in contact with the best academic work in the field of Christian religious education. Due to the quality of his reflection, experiences, and sources, the book will be valuable for all who educate believers in the Church of Jesus Christ. Hill makes a good case for this study. It is unique in his discussion of Christian religious education in the African American Church Tradition. It has a cultural relevance and meets the practical needs for the educative role of churches in the context of the African and African American roots of believers in the community of Christians. I was, of course, impressed as he takes seriously the contribution of theology, in the Black tradition, to religious education. As one of the founders of Black theology, I am always pleased to know that the efforts of Black theologians have the recognition of, and importance for the ongoing ministry to African American people. Hill injects the theme of liberation from oppression into his vision for the field of Christian religious education. This is especially important for African Americans who have had to struggle for a condition of dignity in a society that has constantly denied their true worth. Hill shows competence in biblical thought as well as a profound appreciation for the same. Nevertheless, he provides an openness for dialogue with other religions, i.e., Islam and Judaism, as well. The author reminds us of the importance of the teaching ministry of the Christian Church. We must address the mind as well as the heart if we are to anticipate a living faith. The entire personality of each one must be addressed. Jesus admonishes us to teach “everything I have commanded you” (Mt. 28:20a). This follows the summons to love God “with all thy mind” (Mt. 22:37, KJV). This is to say that the whole person is to be involved in a total commitment to the gospel. It follows that the Christian community needs a teaching ministry. In fact, there should be a teaching and learning dimension in all aspects of worship: music, prayer, preaching, etc. This work stresses the comprehensive nature of the educative task in the life, ministry, and witness of all churches. Finally, I am delighted to write this preface and to witness the release of this important book. Dr. Kenneth Hill and the editors of Chalice Press have prepared for us a “moveable feast” for our minds, spirits, and Christian witness. The rest is up to those who read and understand this vital message.

J. Deotis Roberts Distinguished Professor of Philosophical Theology Emeritus, Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary

Foreword

Reflection on African American Christian education has come of age, and Kenneth Hill is an ideal person to document the history, biblical and theological influences, and educational philosophies that undergird it. Christian education, indeed religious education in the many traditions of African people, has flourished in African and PanAfrican communities for centuries, nourished through rituals, communal relationships, stories, spirituals and other music, prayer and praise, critical reflection, and ethical teaching. What is new is the burgeoning literature on African American Christian education—a literature that raises up the importance of elders and youth in the community (Anne Wimberly, Okechukwu Ogbonnaya, Fred Smith, and Evelyn Parker); biblical teaching ( Joseph Crockett); stories and storylinking (Wimberly); music (Yolanda Smith); small groups and community life (Lynne Westfield and Grant Shockley); ritual and worship (Wimberly and Melva Wilson Costen); liberation and justice (Shockley and Fred Smith). This literature is rich with insight and pedagogical diversity, and Kenneth Hill presents a thorough and complex picture of that literature and the educational practices upon which it reflects. Unlike other religious education literature, the emerging PanAfrican genre did not need critiques of schooling models of Christian education to point in new directions. African American Christian education, as most African education, has been grounded in community life from the beginning. For Christians, it has also been grounded in God as the Creator and Deliverer of a hurting creation. Further, this education did not need to toss out schooling models as if they were irrelevant. African Americans have valued intellect—as they have valued worship, dance, and song—from the beginning. It is no surprise that many Christian seminaries are finding a generation of eager African American students in Christian education. These are people who have been nourished in the Black church or have discovered the church in their youth and young adult years; they want to preserve their precious heritage. These are the very people who need and hunger for Kenneth Hill’s book.

Engaging in Public, Full-Bodied Dialogue Hill has responded to the hunger for dialogue on Christian education with diligent research. He early on recognized that the literature on African American Christian education needed to be reviewed and expanded. He realized that he and others had no basic introduction to education in the Black church, so introductory courses were impaired by lack of adequate resources. Further, he recognized that exciting and substantive work had

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